Faced with crisis, lack of direction, or just plain "stuckness," many congregations and their leaders are content to deal only with surface issues and symptoms—only to discover that the same problems keep recurring, often in different, and more serious, ways. In The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Christian educator and consultant Israel Galindo takes leaders below the surface of congregational life to provide a comprehensive, holistic look at the corporate nature of church relationships and the invisible dynamics at play. Informed by family systems theory and grounded in a wide-ranging ecclesiological understanding, Galindo unpacks clearly the factors of congregational lifespan, size, spirituality, and identity and shows how these work together to form the congregation’s hidden life. He provides useful tools for diagnosing and understanding how one’s congregation fits into the various categories he names and suggests what leadership skills are necessary to get beyond the impasse of surface issues and help the congregation achieve its mission. The Hidden Lives of Congregations provides one of the most far-reaching looks into the invisible nature of faith communities written in recent years. For seminaries and divinity schools, it provides a standard text for getting a solid start in congregational practices; for experienced pastors, it provides support for renewing ministry; for lay leaders and committees, it offers insight to deepening mutual ministry. Israel Galindo has written an indispensable manual that leaders will return to repeatedly for new wisdom and guidance

Partisan religious interests have highjacked faith in America for political power, in the process dividing our nation and giving religion a bad name. Faith groups who want to build unity, in contrast, feel powerless to attain their goals. Congregations who can adapt to a more democratic approach to ministry, in which power is shared by both staff and congregants, can dramatically strengthen their congregations and serve their neighbors more effectively. Shared power strengthens individuals, congregations, and community efforts, enabling us to work with others, build community, and recognize and overcome negative power dynamics so that people can work together to build healthier congregations and communities. It also burnishes religion's tarnished image by demonstrating faithful, cooperative, and positive civic engagement for the community's good. This book also addresses the inevitable power dynamics in any congregation, allowing leaders to recognize unhealthy dynamics, foster healthy ones, and discover and cultivate the hidden power in each parishioner, so that individually they can live more fully into God's intention for them, and together the congregation can become the outpost of God's reign that it is meant to be.

Tells the story of Shakespeare in Stratford as a family man. The book offers close readings of key documents associated with Shakespeare and develops a contextual understanding of the genres from which these documents emerge. It reconsiders clusters of evidence that have been held to prove some persistent biographical fables

Tackles an area of enormous importance for the Church: the stresses of clerical family life.

During WW2 there was a rumour that German spies were landing by parachute in Britain, dressed as nuns... 'Spy-masterful storytelling' Sunday Post 'Delightfully old-fashioned and prudent of prose, McCall Smith unspools his tales' Daily Mail '[Adds] another treasure to McCall Smith's already glittering library' New York Journal of Books Conradin Muller was an unusual spy. He was recruited in Hamburg in June 1943, much against his will, and sent on his first, and only, mission in late September that year. He failed to send a single report back to Germany, and when the War came to an end in May 1945, he fell to his knees and wept with relief. From a highly reluctant German spy who is drawn to an East Anglian nunnery as his only means of escape, to the strange tale of one of the Cambridge spy ring's adventures with a Russian dwarf, these are Alexander McCall Smith's intriguing and typically inventive stories from the world of espionage.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Femina 'Ramirez blasts a powerful spotlight into the so-called Dark Ages' - Dan Snow Skulduggery, power struggles and politics, The Private Lives of the Saints offers an original and fascinating re-examination of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Taking them down from the clouds of their heavenly status, Sunday Times bestselling author and renowned Oxford historian Dr Janina Ramirez explores the real lives of the legendary, seminal saints. This landmark book provides a unique and captivating new lens through which to explore the rich history of the Dark Ages.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS ‘To see a hare sit still as stone, to watch a hare boxing on a frosty March morning, to witness a hare bolt . . . these are great things. Every field should have a hare.’ The hare, a night creature and country-dweller, is a rare sight for most people. We know them only from legends and stories. They are shape-shifters, witches’ familiars and symbols of fertility. They are arrogant, as in Aesop’s The Hare and the Tortoise, and absurd, as in Lewis Carroll’s Mad March Hare. In the absence of observed facts, speculation and fantasy have flourished. But real hares? What are they like? In The Private Life of the Hare, John Lewis-Stempel explores myths, history and the reality of the hare. And in vivid, elegant prose he celebrates how, in an age when television cameras have revealed so much in our landscape, the hare remains as elusive and magical as ever.

An intimate look at James II and VII, exploring his romantic escapades, tumultuous life, and the personal struggles that shaped his controversial reign. The personal side of James II and VII has long been obscured by the propaganda storm emanating from the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, one of the great founding myths of modern Britain. Justine Brown unveils James the man, teasing out a fresh dimension. The Private Life of James II details the romantic adventures of a true Cavalier—handsome, courageous, loyal, pleasure-seeking, lusty, determined and soulful. The Stuart “spare” briefly experienced a golden childhood before, aged nine, he was flung headlong into the English Civil Wars of 1642-1649. After escaping England in disguise, he endured the execution of his adored father, Charles I, and years of exile on the Continent. In 1660 the Duke of York returned to his native land in triumph. He rode into the capital at the right hand of his brother, Charles II. James fully embraced the role of Restoration rake, headed up the Royal Navy, fought the Fire of London with gusto, and was a great patron of theater, painting, and music. “The darling of the people” until his dramatic conversion to Roman Catholicism transformed him into England’s scapegoat, the heir to the Crown had a turbulent road ahead. Come to understand what truly drove James, and learn about his complex relationships with his children, his two remarkable wives, Anne Hyde and Mary of Modena; his many mistresses, as well as the extraordinary friends and rivals who helped shape the fate of this consequential Stuart monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Library has Vol. 1-5.